The Road to Hell

This article was written by graphic designer Milton Glaser. It's about the ethics of graphic designing but I think its message also translates to other design disciplines. He gives us a gradiated map of some sort that leads towards design ethics hell from the first step to the last and worst of them.

Bending the truth can be a slippery slope for graphic designers.

By Milton Glaser

A few years ago I had the pleasure of illustrating Dante's Purgatory for an Italian publisher. I was impressed by the fact that the difference between those unfortunates in Hell and those in Purgatory was that the former had no idea how they had sinned. Those in Hell were there forever. Those in Purgatory knew what they had done and were waiting it out with at least the possibility of redemption, thus establishing the difference between despair and hope.

In regard to professional ethics, acknowledging what it is we do is a beginning. It is clear that in the profession of graphic design the question of misrepresenting the truth arises almost immediately. So much of what we do can be seen as a distortion of the truth. Put another way, "He who enters the bath sweats."

Finally, all questions of ethics become personal. To establish your own level of discomfort with bending the truth, read the following chart: 12 Steps on the Graphic Designer's Road to Hell. I personally have taken a number of them.

1 Designing a package to look bigger on the shelf.

2 Designing an ad for a slow, boring film to make it seem like a lighthearted comedy.

3 Designing a crest for a new vineyard to suggest that it has been in business for a long time.

4 Designing a jacket for a book whose sexual content you find personally repellent.

5 Designing a medal using steel from the World Trade Center to be sold as a profit-making souvenir of September 11.

6 Designing an advertising campaign for a company with a history of known discrimination in minority hiring.

7 Designing a package aimed at children for a cereal whose contents you know are low in nutritional value and high in sugar.

8 Designing a line of T-shirts for a manufacturer that employs child labor.

9 Designing a promotion for a diet product that you know doesn't work.

10 Designing an ad for a political candidate whose policies you believe would be harmful to the general public.

11 Designing a brochure for an SUV that flips over frequently in emergency conditions and is known to have killed 150 people.

12 Designing an ad for a product whose frequent use could result in the user's death.

Dubai Fantasies

by Malaya Fabros

Dubai is a fast growing city. Constructions can be seen at literally left and right of main roads, Sheikh Zayed Road. The Arabs have got a lot of money to fund these projects and investors from all over are  confident to invest here. It seems like everybody wants to build their fantasy in Dubai. One could say that the motto is: 'Why not?!'

I know several of these fantasies. Some of them are now operational and some are still under construction. Firstly, there's the Burj Dubai - seen as the world's tallest skyscraper once finished.  Then there's the Burj Al Arab on the beaches of Jumeirah. They say its the world's only 7-star hotel and the most expensive one (around 5000 USD a night, whopper!).  It's a real eye-candy. Beside this is the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel which brings back Arabic architecture in it's full elegance. It has a Souk inside which is like a little arabic market place but an air-conditioned one.

The latest hot mall is the Ibn Battuta Mall along Sheikh Zayed Road. It has 6 pavillions: Persia, Egypt, China, Andalucia, India, and Tunisia. Actually, one pavillion is equivalent to one big mall. Perhaps it would take more than one day to go around the entire mall for the first time. I've only been to Persia, Egypt and Andalucia so far. Andalucia has this street-like portion where you feel like you're outdoors. It's because of the well-lit high ceiling that's painted like the sky. Quite entertaining indeed. I can't keep myself from saying 'Why not?!' while passing through. Bloody hell! Why not?!

The Mall of the Emirates is still under construction. Set to be the biggest mall outside of North America, it has an indoor ski area. All I can say for now is that it has a very big Carrefour sign on the side, which means it could be twice as busy as I imagine. (Carrefour is a supermarket much like Makro)

Then there's Dubailand. Well, it's a big theme park. A real big one with roller coasters  coming out of an ancient Egyptian head's mouth, a 200m diameter Snow Dome with hotels around and inside it; a city with all the world's famous places like the Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc.; (Sadly, they missed the Banawe Rice Terraces, hehehe); simulated dinosaurs; a golf course; a heritage village;... they've put in almost everything. Maybe you could even find a replica of your own house in there! Haha!

There's also the 3 Palm projects. These are reclaimed lands that are shaped like palm leaves. There's one in Jumeirah, another one in Deira and another one in Jebel Ali. I heard that the Sheikhs intended to make them so big that you could also see them from the moon like the Great Walls of China. They are also being built right now.  We've got a hotel project at the Crescent portion of the Palm Jumeirah. It's on a single plot of around 40,000 sq.m. The hotel beside ours occupies 4 plots. They really like building hotels here.

Aside from the 3 Palms, there's also The World. It's basically a set of islands shaped like a world map. So one country is an island. Investors can buy their own country. I overheard one of our designers during lunch saying that she sailed around The World in around one hour. It sounds funny.

I'm beginning to feel like a travel promoter with this post. I was actually planning to write about the Cityscape 2005 Exhibition we went to yesterday. It featured other future developments in the Middle East and around the world. But I'll just discuss it some other day.

So all I can say about Dubai for now is: Oh yeah! Why not?!

the new up arki building

the admin and classrooms building...(formerly the campus maintenance office)






the design studio building...(na hindi pa tapos)



interior pictures to come pag nakapasok na ako...(sembreak at sabado kasi walang tao)

Seoul seeks more humane urban experience

By Barbara Demick Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Thu Oct 13, 9:40 AM ET

On hazy days, this city looks like nothing so much as a bowl of poured concrete topped by a noxious yellow cloud. The surrounding mountainsides have been blasted away to build grim slabs of high-rise apartments with the names of the conglomerates Samsung or Hyundai stamped on them.

After being destroyed during the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul was slapped back together in the 1960s and 1970s. The mantra of the time was: Do it fast, do it cheap.

Now one of the people responsible for paving over the city is trying to make amends.

And if anyone can do it, Lee Myung Bak can--he's the mayor. As chief executive officer of Hyundai in the 1970s and 1980s, Lee was responsible for much of the company's work in rebuilding Seoul, going about it with such tenacity that he was nicknamed "the Bulldozer."

Emerging from ruins

"You have to remember, in the 1960s and 1970s, we were just starting to rise above the ruins of war. You couldn't find a skyscraper in the whole country; there were few cars," the 63-year-old mayor said.

"We built cookie-cutter buildings. The only concern was getting as many people as possible into as little space. We now find ourselves regretting some of the choices we made back then."

Topping the list of architectural atrocities was a 3 1/2-mile-long elevated highway that was built (largely by Hyundai) on top of what had been a stream. Two years ago, Lee had the highway demolished to restore the Cheonggye waterway.

The water pumps were switched on in June, and a gurgling brook now runs through the concrete jungle of Seoul's central business district. The $330 million restoration, which was formally marked with a huge celebration featuring fireworks and concerts this month, includes fountains, sculptures and 22 bridges in various fanciful styles. One resembles a tall-masted ship; another the spread wings of a silvery bird.

The list of ambitious public works projects goes on.

Lee wants to turn the 630-acre U.S. military base called Yongsan, scheduled to be vacated by the end of 2007, into Seoul's version of Central Park. He wants to build a new opera house too.

Over the summer, a former golf course and racetrack reopened as a park and wildlife sanctuary, stocked with elk, ducks, squirrels and six species of deer.

In front of City Hall, Lee ripped out a vast oval of concrete and ordered it planted with grass--"Mayor Lee's front lawn" is how some residents derided it.

On a recent day, two boys were doing cartwheels on the grass outside the mayor's office. Inside, in a conference room of plush blue chairs, the mayor reflected on the changing city.

"In the 1960s, the environment took a back seat to economics," said Lee, a slim, impeccable man with an elf-like quality about him. "In the 21st Century, the priorities have shifted."

With the possible exceptions of Israel and Taiwan, it is hard to point to another country that has developed as rapidly as South Korea in the last half-century. As South Koreans of Lee's generation like to emphasize, the country was one of the poorest on Earth at the end of the Korean War; today it is the 11th-largest economy in the world.

But the aesthetics of the capital haven't quite caught up to its new-found economic stature.

In a style befitting the military dictatorship that ruled until the 1980s, modern-day Seoul was designed with huge boulevards on which the ruling elite could drive in comfort. Hapless pedestrians were forced to find their way like moles through circuitous underpasses.

Today, the mayor is trying to overturn this hierarchy--bringing the pedestrians back above ground. In a move applauded by South Korea's elderly and disabled, he has built dozens of crosswalks in downtown Seoul.

He is also trying to bring Seoul's car population under control. There are an estimated 2 million cars in this city of 10.2 million people, a staggeringly high number for an Asian city and enough to put even the widest of the streets in an almost perpetual state of gridlock.

To ease congestion, Lee, taking a cue from European cities, introduced new bus lanes. He also switched Seoul's subway system to a fare-collection system using computerized cards.

All these changes have come in the past three years -- Lee took office in 2002--and some Seoul residents believe the mayor has been too abrupt in pushing newfangled ideas down their throats. The angriest have been car owners, much of the middle- and upper-income population of Seoul, who feel they have lost out with the introduction of the bus lanes and the demolition of the elevated highway.

"Mayor Lee should take responsibility for the hellish traffic situation in Seoul," wrote one indignant critic on an Internet site that last year started calling for his resignation.

Advocates of the poor, meanwhile, complain that he wants to demolish some of the city's shabbier housing complexes to build higher-priced residences and create work for the construction industry.

Yu Jae Hong, a professor of cultural studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said Lee is continuing in the tradition of strong-arm politicians imposing their development schemes on the nation.

`Showy projects'

"These are all showy projects that use slogans like environment and culture," Yu said. "But it is ultimately about real estate."

Some of the polish of the new Cheonggye stream restoration has been tarnished by the arrest in May of one of Lee's closest aides, Vice Mayor Yang Yoon Jae. He is charged with accepting money from a real estate developer who wanted an exemption from height restrictions for building along the stream.

One reason that Lee draws a lot of criticism is that he is in the thick of the political fray. Besides being mayor, he is an active member of the Grand National Party, South Korea's conservative opposition party, and an outspoken critic of South Korea's left-of-center president, Roh Moo Hyun.

Among the points Roh and Lee have clashed on is the president's desire to move the capital south to ease overcrowding in Seoul. Lee calls the idea "ridiculous" and says he hopes that one day Seoul day will again be the capital of a united Korea.

Cheap Housing = Good Housing

Kaya bang gawin to?
(From Salon.com)

by Karrie Jacobs

Oct. 5, 2005  |  While today's architectural headlines are generally about glittering new museums or soaring condo towers, with limitless budgets and superstar designers, an important trend is blossoming closer to the ground. In part the movement is fed by the growing popularity of design/build programs in architecture schools across the country -- Fayetteville, S.C.; Seattle; Lawrence, Kan. -- inspired by the success of the late Samuel Mockbee's Rural Studio in Alabama. Ten years ago, students graduated from architecture school burning to build computer-generated blobs. These days, the architectural vanguard is just as likely to emerge with a diploma and a desire to build dirt cheap.

This new generation, devoted to the idea that cheap houses can be good houses, will be especially useful in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which randomly flung New Orleans residents to parts of the country they hardly knew existed. As if in Oz, thousands of displaced persons are wondering where they are and if they'll ever go home again. (One man airlifted to Utah asked, "Am I the only person out here with dreadlocks?") Suddenly it seems more than fortuitous that so many up-and-coming architects in this country are newly passionate about low-cost housing.

Affordable housing, of course, is normally a euphemism for low-income housing. Since the 1972 demolition of the infamous Pruitt Igoe houses in St. Louis, the idea of warehousing the poor in massive modernist projects has been decidedly unfashionable. The big projects have been systematically bulldozed and replaced with clusters of non-threatening townhouses. But in recent years some architectural firms -- Pyatok Architects Inc. of Oakland, Calif., for example -- have excelled at designing attractive, thoughtful complexes of apartments and townhouses for the affordable sector. The first annual John M. Clancy Award for Socially Responsible Housing, just given to half a dozen firms by the Boston Society of Architects, is a reflection of that trend and lends new prestige to low-cost, multi-family housing. And developers like Diane Botwin Alpert of Kansas City, Kan., have begun to see adventurous design as a way to "effect change" in blighted neighborhoods. For a 16-acre, low-cost development in Topeka, she has engaged the services of El Dorado, a progressive young firm, that will apply the same vivid palette of materials -- translucent Polygal and corrugated metal -- that it would use for high-end clients.

The housing bubble has pushed the cost of an ordinary home out of the reach not just of the poor but of the middle class. One young architect in Houston, Brett Zamore, renovated an abandoned shotgun house as his grad school thesis project and transformed it into a lovely, efficient, contemporary home. Along the way, he learned a few things about that particular style of building. For instance, he came to realize that the very characteristic that gives the house its name, the fact that a bullet could travel unimpeded from front door to back, also promotes good ventilation, making it better suited to Houston's steamy climate than newer, fancier houses. Zamore went on to build a new home, based on the shotgun, in a marginal Houston neighborhood for about $130,000, and another traditional Southern type, the dog trot, characterized by a central, open-air breezeway.

Zamore's "Shot-Trot" owes a debt to the historic styles that inspired it, but it is also unabashedly modern. He sees it as a viable alternative, a model for what developers could build, if they were able to discard designs -- wee Tudors and faux bungalows smothered in synthetic stucco and vinyl siding -- based on market research and an emphasis on the superficial, that is, curb appeal. As Zamore puts it, "We can't live in this McMansion world anymore. We need new strategies for building and rebuilding." Ideally he'd like to have a kit version of the Shot-Trot -- cheap, transportable and easy to erect -- ready for the reconstruction of New Orleans.

Although the current administration is not known for its embrace of creativity, all the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has to do is copy the Blair administration. In April, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott launched a competition to design a $108,000 house, one designed for off-site manufacture, to be built as part of a large government initiative to build thousands of low-cost homes. The nine winning designs vary in style from staid to exceptionally bold. One design, by a firm called George Wimpey UK, is as brightly colored and geometrically varied as the packages on the shelf in a supermarket's laundry detergent aisle. The buildings are designed to be built from wooden panels attached to steel frames, constructed offsite and packed flat, like furniture from Ikea. The methods are not so radical; architects experimenting with prefab in this country are doing similar things. The extraordinary thing is that the British government is backing the effort.

While Brett Zamore is a clever guy, one architect can't solve the problems caused by Katrina. In the hurricane's wake, it seems clear that we desperately need affordable housing for both the poor and the middle class. (Zamore's Shot-Trot, while perhaps ideal for many New Orleans neighborhoods, is not the replacement for high-density inner city projects.) It's an opportune moment for HUD or some other government agency to step in and -- in WPA fashion -- harness the talents of the many architects who've dedicated themselves to the production of high-quality, low-cost housing.